


The Sun & the Moon

by dauntlessinpanem



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-29 14:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dauntlessinpanem/pseuds/dauntlessinpanem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen takes a trip to the east coast the summer before college. Here he meets a gorgeous stranger who makes a surprising proposal. The first day of college brings the same stranger back into his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sun & the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in forever! The idea came to me after watching 'Drumroll, Please', an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Ted and Victoria first meet at a wedding and decide to never see eachother after the wedding, to preserve the memory as untainted by negative stuff. Only the general concept is being used. 
> 
> This is a WiP, but I should be updating one chapter at the most every two weeks. I have the story mapped out, just getting the words out.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> **Title and lyrics used in this chapter are from "The Sun & The Moon" by Mae.

Jensen races through the courtyard in his pajamas, a string of expletives falling from his lips at varying degrees of intensity. Some valedictorian he is, he didn’t have his nose in the books his whole life to be late on the first day of college. When he reaches the door to his psychology class, he takes a second to compose himself before turning the handle. The door opens to the top of a huge lecture hall, rows of seats corresponding with each step. Through the sea of heads he spots a familiar one, two rows from the pit of the hall. The same dark hair he had spent hours running his fingers through. He finds himself unable to move or breathe.

“You've got to be fucking kidding me,” he says. For a split second he believes that he spoke this only in his head when one by one each head in the class turned towards the outburst. It would be his luck to be late AND cause a scene in the first five minutes of his collegiate academic career. When the dark haired boy finally turns his attention to the back of the hall, Jensen is rendered catatonic. His professor is the one to interrupt his stupor.

“May I help you?” he asks. Jensen head snaps up and he sees a name on the board. Professor Kripke.

“Yes.. uh..” Jensen rubs his chin with his fingers and takes a deep breath before continuing, “My name is Jensen Ackles, sorry I’m late…I..”

“Mr. Ackles,” Professor Kripke interrupts, “in case you haven’t noticed, this is a class of more than 150 students, every one of them and myself could care less if you come at all. Now if you plan on staying, by all means have a seat and stop interrupting my class.”

Jensen nods and trudges down each step, taking a seat behind the dark haired boy. The name comes to him finally, Castiel.

***

Summer

Jensen uses one hand to shake his beach chair open. He collapses into it and shoves earbuds into his ears, the scroll wheel on his iPod clicking furiously as he chooses a song and settles in to relax. The Atlantic sky is clear and dotted with stars, Jensen can appreciate it’s vastness, wondering idly what it would be like to float in a raft out at sea. He closes his eyes and imagines

himself enveloped in the sea’s darkness. Not long after he is in the beginning stages of sleep, when he is jerked into consciousness by someone tumbling over him. Jensen is beyond angry, the entire reason he came to the beach at night in the first place was to avoid the sweltering heat and the mess of people he was sure would there. So how is it that at midnight, in the already secluded area of beach, someone managed to stumble upon him? Even more troubling is how they managed to stumble OVER him. He opens his eyes and braces himself for an argument.

“What is wrong with you?” he shouts, looking up at the boy who was reaching a hand out to help him up. He looks at the hand and follows it up to the face it belongs to. He swallows, the face he finds is nothing short of angelic. Well maybe he isn’t THAT angry.

“Well there is a great deal wrong with me, but in this occurrence, I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention,” the dark haired boy holds up pair of headphones and smiles apologetically, “I’m really sorry man, I was listening to music and running. Usually there isn’t anyone here.”

The boy’s smile thaws Jensen’s irritation immediately. He grips the boy’s hand and he rises to his feet. He returns the smile, admiring the soft skin of his hands.

“It’s fine,” he says, “That’s pretty much why i’m sitting out here at this time. I tend to avoid a crowd.”

“Good call, i’ve been coming to this beach every summer since I can remember. It used to be a family thing, but I come alone now.”

Jensen feels a hand tighten on his and realizes they are still holding hands. Another smile tugs at his lips as he lets the boy’s hand drop from his. “Well, I think I should probably be going, my best friend is flying in to hang out for the day before he heads to New York for the summer, he’s settling in before college,” Jensen says.

“Of course. I need to finish this run and head back to the house to get some sleep,” he says, giving Jensen a small wave. Jensen nods. Why are his eyes so blue, he thinks. Instead of imagining himself in the darkness of the ocean, the blue takes it’s place.

The boy looks up, “I'm sure we’ll see each other around.”

With that, the boy turns and heads off down the beach. Jensen stands watching him until he disappears from sight. Gathering his things, he walks back to the hotel. He can’t shake the absolute serendipity of this evening. They hadn’t talked about much, but the space between them was charged with electricity. Jensen hasn't felt like that in a long time, not since Daneel in 9th grade, sometimes passion burns bright, but fizzles out. They remained good friends. The excitement of it all has his head spinning. He's usually quiet, has a few good friends but doesn't much care for strangers. It's odd to be so...affected. He slips out of his clothes and climbs into bed, knowing that his dreams will be full of soft hands and the bluest of eyes.

The next morning comes quickly and Jensen feels like throwing his phone across the room when the alarm goes off. He stretches, silently cursing Jared for choosing such an early flight. The previous night comes flooding into his brain. I need to see him again, I wonder if he will be running again tonight, Jensen smiles at the thought. As he throws his clothes on he makes the decision that he’s going back to the same spot to see if the boy comes back. Yeah he’s definitely going back. On his way out of the hotel, he spots him standing next to the doors, a cigarette pressed between his lips. Jensen’s heart swells and his mind races. The boy looks up from the ground as Jensen approaches, he sucks in a deep breath and begins speaking.

“Listen, this is going to sound completely crazy. But life sucks, it’s filled with chaos, pain, heartbreak, disappointment. For once, JUST once, I'd like for something to go right. A moment in time that stays perfect,” he says, leaning into Jensen’s personal space. Jensen takes a mental note of how close they are, he can feel warmth radiating from the gorgeous person in front of him. If he leans any further, their lips would meet. He drags his eyes from the boy’s lips to his eyes and opens his mouth to speak, “So what do you propose?”

“Spend however long we have left, together. No real names. No phone numbers. No plans. We can live perfectly in the moment. Nothing exists during or outside of these moments,” he says, his body tenses as he braces himself for Jensen’s response.

Jensen is intrigued. It’s such a simple concept. This vacation is supposed to be an escape from the world and reality. The time for experience before throwing himself into college. He knows when he looks the boy in the face, that he is going to agree. He holds his hand out, “Dean, pleased to meet you.”

The boy’s grin is so wide, he grabs Jensen’s hand, “Castiel.”

“Castiel,” Jensen repeats, trying the name out for himself, “Castiel & Dean. Perfect.”

***

Fall

Jensen sits in class trying to focus on the lecture Professor Kripke is giving, but he can’t quite get interested. He’s gripping the sides of his small desk for dear life. This should be a dream come true, that short week during July was the most memorable of his life. He closes his eyes and images of the two back to back on the beach, taking turns reading aloud to each other, come to his mind. When he opens his eyes, Castiel is peering over his shoulder, his blue eyes wide, there’s a question somewhere in them. Class drags on for another hour.

“That’s all for today class,” Professor Kripke says, waving his hand in dismissal.

That’s all it takes for both of them, they gather their things and both of them are out the door, not stopping to speak. Jensen runs back to his dorm without stopping. The sanctuary of his room is a relief. After a few deep breaths he pulls out his cell and brushes his finger across the screen to Jared’s name. He needs to talk to someone. Jared answers immediately.

“Hey man, how was the first class?”

“It was terrible,” Jensen sighs, “First, I'm late to class, then when I walk in he’s here.”

Jared shuffles on the other end, “HE…” there’s a pause, “as in Castiel he?”

“Who else?”

“How did you not know this? Even with that strange arrangement, which I don’t even see how you managed by the way, you were in love with the guy the moment you met him, how did college never come up?”

“Well Jared.. it did come up, obviously. But we never discussed WHAT colleges we were going to,” Jensen sighs again.

“This is great then!” Jared begins talking excitedly, “now you guys can be together and you know.. be happy. You haven’t really been since you left him.”

“That defeats the entire purpose of the experience Jay!” Jensen starts feeling a bit annoyed, he knows Jared means well. But it really does defeat the purpose of the agreement. Mostly. Being in the same place for four years might be a good thing. It could be bad, disastrous even. He realized his head was pounding. He finds a bottle of ibuprofen and shakes to into his hand. He takes them without water.

“You still there?” Jared asks, he sounds hesitant.

“Yeah, I'm here, just thinking about how my life just got a million times more complicated,” Jensen says.

“Seriously Jen, this is game changing, you should at least talk to him. Speaking of good, I met this girl at a party last night, her name is Genevieve. She’s beautiful, smart, and funny.” Jensen can hear the smile in his voice.

"You mean she's digging the mop head and moose vibe? She must be a keeper then,” Jensen teases.

“Yeah yeah, shut up. At least I'm not scared to talk to her," Jared fires back. Jensen realizes how much he misses his best friend.

"How are your classes going?" Jensen asks.

"They're good, it's class. You know how I can clown around."

There’s a thump against the door and Jensen turns around and just looks at it. It didn’t sound like a knock, it was more of a palm hitting the door.

“Jay, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later,” Jensen says quickly.

“Sure thing. See ya,” Jared says and the line goes dead.

Jensen walks over and opens the door, there’s no one there. He leans his head through the doorway and looks both ways down the hallway, still no one. As he’s leaning back through the door, he notices a small envelope taped to the door. It just says Dean on the envelope. He can hear his heart beating in his ears, debating whether to open it or not. Curiosity wins out because he tears the envelope open. A small piece of paper is folded in two. All that it says is: Wasted time, I cannot say that I was ready for this. He stares at the paper for what feels like forever before tucking it away in the drawer of his desk. Leaving his dorm he knew he couldn't avoid the situation for long, but the note from Cas gave him hope. Hope that those words held the key to second chances.

The next class he has feels like an eternity. He tries to stay focused on the lecture, taking notes and pushing thoughts from his mind. It wasn't easy, but he finally let go enough to really enjoy the class. When class is finished, Jensen sits at his desk and watches everyone file out. He takes a moment and look around and is grateful to be here. This is what he worked for, this is where he wants to be for the rest of his life. Shaping, molding minds. Helping people who are lost find what they want out of life, to find direction and purpose. Teaching is what he's always wanted to do. He makes his way out of his desk and down to the center of the classroom, he runs his fingers over the desk. It's not your usual teacher's desk, it's antique. The professor, Jensen wracks his brain for a name and it comes to him after a minute, Singer! Professor Singer. Why was he having so much trouble remembering names?

Jensen realizes he's been standing in the pit of the hall for at least 30 minutes since class ended, as he turns to leave he sees Castiel standing at the top of the stairs. His eyes widen as he sucks in a breath. Ready or not, it's time.

Castiel has a small smile on his face, Jensen watches his lips form the words he was expecting to hear, "Hello Dean."


End file.
